News

On 16 December 2024, at a meeting attended by the entire broadcasting industry, radio publishers made a commitment to step up their communications around DAB+. This decision marks an important step in promoting this innovative technology, which offers superior sound quality and access to a greater number of stations. From 8 to 22 February 2025, the public, private and community radio stations that are members of the ‘Ensemble pour le DAB+’ initiative will be broadcasting information messages on the benefits of DAB+. These spots will be broadcast several times a day on each of the participating stations, representing more than 95% of the radio audience in France. The aim of the campaign is to make listeners aware of the many benefits of DAB+.

In autumn 2024, just before SSR's FM switch-off, the Digital Migration working group once again collected figures on radio usage. The results show that the majority of the Swiss population has already switched over to digital radio: at the last measurement in autumn 2024, only 8% of listeners listened to the radio exclusively via FM, while 83 out of every 100 minutes were listened to via DAB+ or the internet. Digital usage has reached a new peak since the start of the study. Digital broadcast channels were used to a similar extent (DAB+: 42%; IP: 41%). The majority of radio use still takes place at home: 60% of minutes listened to are spent at home, 20% at work and almost 14% in the car. This breakdown has remained stable over the years.

In Italy, following the issuance by the Ministry of Enterprise and Industry of the definitive rights of use of the radio frequencies for digital radio broadcasting, each consortium assigned the rights received the imposition of coverage obligations in the assigned basin (or sub-basin), equal to 40% within two years for mobile coverage and at least 60% of the population within four years and at least 70% of the population within five years from the assignment. The consortia of local radio stations Media DAB and Space DAB, only a few months after the issuance of the final allocations, informed the Ministry of Enterprise and Made in Italy that they had already completed their coverage obligations.

Bauer Media Audio UK is celebrating an impressive reach of 23.4m weekly listeners (+0.7% YoY) in the latest RAJAR results. These Q4 2024 figures reinforce Bauer’s position as a leader in the industry, contributing significantly to the overall commercial radio reach of 40m people. A third of Bauer’s listening is via connected devices including smart speakers, web and app, with a further 54% of listening on DAB. Bauer is also home to three of the top five digital commercial stations: #1 KISSTORY, #2 Absolute Radio, and #4 Absolute 80s.

News Broadcasting continues to impress in the latest round of RAJAR results - for the survey period ending 15 December 2024. The group, including national brands talkSPORT, Virgin Radio UK, Times Radio, and Talk, as well as U105 in Northern Ireland, delivered a strong 7.7% year-on-year increase in reach to 6.6 million weekly listeners, with cumulative listening hours of 43.9 million. News UK EVP, President of Broadcasting, Scott Taunton, said: “News Broadcasting continues to set the pace for digital audience growth, reaching 6.6 million highly engaged adults every week and boasting an industry-leading 86% of total listening hours from streaming and DAB platforms.”

Last week, Broadcast Partners completed and commissioned a brand new DAB+ transmitter installation for the radio stations in allotment 33 on the Cellnex broadcast tower in The Hague at 5C. Thanks to this transmitter on 5C, listeners in the Hague region can now experience the comfort of optimised DAB+ reception for themselves. In addition, radio stations in the Hague region have the unique opportunity to test signal strength and geographical coverage of DAB+ distribution by Broadcast Partners in their target area in practice themselves. This will enable them to make an informed choice about their future digital radio broadcasts.

FM ceased broadcasting in Switzerland on 31 December, marking a definitive transition to DAB+. SSR is strongly encouraging the adoption of this technology, highlighting its many advantages: better audio quality, optimised coverage and reduced environmental impact. A change that is transforming the way we listen to radio every day. The recent closure of FM on 31 December has enabled SRG to accelerate its digital transition. The resources freed up are being reinvested in new services such as Play applications, podcasts and streaming. The integration of DAB+ with voice assistants and in-car multimedia systems is also opening up new opportunities. Thanks to these developments, SRG is rapidly adapting its offering to new listening habits and is offering more dynamic formats, particularly for younger audiences.

Matt Deegan writes: UK radio has been on a long march to consolidation in ownership alongside an explosion in new stations driven by the growth in listening to DAB Digital Radio and streaming. Analogue listening (AM/FM) now only accounts for 27.8% of radio’s consumption here. Indeed, streaming radio is neck and neck with analogue (with a 27.0% share). Listening on a DAB Digital Radio leads the pack, 35.9m radio listeners tune in that way, and it accounts for 42.7% of listening. This change in behaviour has led commercial radio’s big groups - Bauer and Global - to really jump on station expansion, particularly spin-offs from their existing brands. This quarter sees at least 10 new stations publish figures for the first time, including Greatest Hits Radio 60s (with 386k listeners) and Heart Love (201k).

CRA has launched the operation of its DAB+ digital radio network and the broadcasting of commercial radio stations on frequencies acquired in the frequency auction organised by the Czech Telecommunications Office (CTU). At the moment, 48% of the population coverage of the planned multiplex has been completed, and 6 commercial radio stations have started broadcasting there today. A total of 17 transmitters are now covered by the new digital radio multiplex, which is being launched by the CRA on 4 February. The second phase and the launch of 15 more transmitters will follow by the end of March, with coverage reaching 80% of the Czech population. The new multiplex already has a customer, the Radio United Broadcasting media group.

WorldDAB's work on the development of Automatic Safety Alerts (ASA) for DAB+ has been recognised at the Grand Prix of the Paris Radio Show. The ASA system was nominated in the ‘Best Technical Innovation’ category, which recognises new concepts, emerging technologies and innovative solutions. Three key features differentiate this DAB+ emergency alert system from all other existing solutions. Firstly, geographical targeting (only people in the relevant areas receive the notification). Secondly, inter-set signalling (receivers analyse references to alert announcements on other radio stations, increasing the flexibility and range of alerts). Finally, wake-up mode (receivers can be activated by the DAB+ signal, a particularly useful function for clock radios).